1st April is a day to be careful, or you could easily get tricked by someone. Its April fools Day, a day when people traditionally like to try to make a fool of someone else and laugh at them.
There are lots of theories surrounding the origins of the day, but one explanation is connected with the change in the calendar in the 16th century, which meant that 1st April was no longer the beginning of the year. Those who still celebrated the New Year on 1st April were called fools.
So what kind of pranks do people play on April fools Day? Well, there are lots of simple tricks that you can play on your friends. For example, you could wear a black sweater and pull a piece of white thread through it, so that people try to pull it off. You could change the time on someones alarm clock so that theyre late for work. Or glue a coin to the floor and see how many people try to pick it up.
All these are small-scale practical jokes which you might play on one other person or a few people. But theres also a tradition of large companies attempting to fool a lot of people. For example a burger restaurant once claimed that they were introducing a left-handed burger!
In particular, the media often try to make people believe something which is not true. Newspapers publish some ludicrous stories every year, although some of them are actually true. Its entertaining to try to guess which stories are true and which are fake. In the April Fools stories, they often include a clue to the fact that its a joke. For example the name of an expert quoted in the article might be an anagram of April Fool.
Radio and television programmes have also fooled many people by broadcasting reports which are untrue. One programme announced the invention of an amazing new weight-loss product - water which contained minus calories!
And one of the most famous hoaxes ever was broadcast by the BBC itself in 1957! A very serious news programme called Panorama reported on the poor spaghetti harvest in Switzerland, and showed pictures of farmers picking spaghetti from trees! Hundreds of people were taken in and wrote to the BBC asking how to grow their own spaghetti.
1st April is a day to be careful, or you could easily get tricked by someone. Its April Fools Day, a day when people traditionally like to try to make a fool of someone else and laugh at them.
There are lots of theories surrounding the origins of the day, but one explanation is connected with the change in the calendar in the 16th century, which meant that 1st April was no longer the beginning of the year. Those who still celebrated the New Year on 1st April were called fools.
So what kind of pranks do people play on April Fools Day? Well, there are lots of simple tricks that you can play on your friends. For example, you could wear a black sweater and pull a piece of white thread through it, so that people try to pull it off. You could change the time on someones alarm clock so that theyre late for work. Or glue a coin to the floor and see how many people try to pick it up.
All these are small-scale practical jokes which you might play on one other person or a few people. But theres also a tradition of large companies attempting to fool a lot of people. For example a burger restaurant once claimed that they were introducing a left-handed burger!
In particular, the media often try to make people believe something which is not true. Newspapers publish some ludicrous stories every year, although some of them are actually true. Its entertaining to try to guess which stories are true and which are fake. In the April Fools stories, they often include a clue to the fact that its a joke. For example the name of an expert quoted in the article might be an anagram of April Fool.
Radio and television programmes have also fooled many people by broadcasting reports which are untrue. One programme announced the invention of an amazing new weight-loss product - water which contained minus calories!
And one of the most famous hoaxes ever was broadcast by the BBC itself in 1957! A very serious news programme called Panorama reported on the poor spaghetti harvest in Switzerland, and showed pictures of farmers picking spaghetti from trees! Hundreds of people were taken in and wrote to the BBC asking how to grow their own spaghetti.
April 1st is the holiday April Fools also known as All Fools Day. Its exact origin is not known, because there are so many stories as to why it started. The most plausible tale is that New Years Day in France used to be April 1st, but the King changed it to January 1st. Not everyone accepted this change for several years and those who didnt were scoffed as fools, thus the term April Fools.
Today people from many parts of the world are recognizing and celebrating April 1st in their own unique way. Here at International school is a fruitful student body from all over the world. I decided to ask a few of our fellow classmates from IS to pass on what they did for April Fools and also pass on this tradition to this who dont know about this good hearted holiday. Maybe through Jinan University, April Fools one day will really be global.
